Articles in the Featured Category

On 28 May, 1291 the Templars relinquished their fortified compound to the Mamlukes who had been besieging the port city of Acre for the past six weeks. The Mamlukes had actually breached the city walls ten days earlier, but the Templars were the last to leave the field, a situation that was a long-standing tradition with the Order.

The loss of Acre was not merely another crusader defeat, for the port had been home to the Templars and Hospitallers for nearly a century; having been captured by Richard the Lionheart on 12 July, 1191.

Those who are fans of Assassins Creed will get the opportunity to battle on the other side of the field. Kalypso Media is looking to release their new game early in 2011 for PC and Xbox 360. They’ve recently released the trailer for The First Templar.

“Chivalry is dead.” I’ve heard that a thousand times. I’ve said it myself. You’ve probably said it, too. But thinking about it, I’ve realized that what people generally mean is “Courtesy isn’t what it used to be.” That’s a statement I can agree with. But then I still read Emily Post’s “Blue Book”, wear hats, and know enough to take them off in elevators and in the presence of ladies (defined as any woman at least 14 years old who haven’t proven that they are not ladies). In any event, that is a discussion for another time.

Chivalry is not dead. It is my contention that wherever an individual is willing to put their life, their fortune or their sacred honor on the line for someone else, Chivalry lives.

Robert E. Howard’s lesser-known character with a sword, Cormac Fitzgeoffrey, is in comic book stores this week, the lead hand in BOOM Studios adaptation of Howard’s 1931 short story Hawks of Outremer.

Hawks is set during the Third Crusade and brings Cormac to Outremer where the battle-loving Irish chief soon meets King Richard for a little less-than-PC skull smashing action in all its unapologetic glory.

The Invisible History of the Rosicrucians is author Tobias Churton’s ambitious attempt to create the definitive book on a complex and oft-misunderstood subject. Churton, perhaps best known for his works on Gnostic writings and philosophy, is a lecturer at the Exeter University (UK) master’s program in Western Esotericism and is considered one of the world’s foremost experts on hidden wisdom and secret societies. He has touched on the Rosicrucians in his writing before, most notably in 2002’s excellent pre-history of Freemasonry, The Golden Builders. That book, however, only hinted at the exhaustive scope and detail to be found in The Invisible History of the Rosicrucians, which at nearly 600 pages outdoes even Churton’s similarly weighty tome on the Craft, 2007’s Freemasonry: The Reality.

Troubador, Wenches is a a new medieval rap video by the sketch comedy group smallGRAND, a video production company that specializes in comedy shorts. The group includes an engineer, a paramedic and a medievalist. smallGRAND has written for the Onion News Network, IvyGate, the Daily Beast, and other websites.

When King Baldwin IV reached the age of 16 in 1177, Count Raymond of Tripoli’s regency of the Kingdom of Jerusalem came to an end. Now in power, the leper king immediately became involved in military campaigns, despite his growing illness. When Philip of Flanders decided to go north to help Raymond in a campaign against the Muslims, Baldwin sent one thousand knights and two thousand foot soldiers to assist, as well as a number of Templars. This left the kingdom with far fewer men than they had sent and Saladin quickly learned of the kingdom’s weakened condition.

Within a week of the Muslim victory at Hattin on July 4, 1187 the port city of Acre had surrendered to Saladin’s army. Within a month Toron, Sidon, Gibelet and Beirut had also capitulated as the famed warrior made his way down the Palestinian coast before marching on Jerusalem, which surrendered on October 2.

Although it had taken the Muslim army a short time to capture Acre, it would take the Christian armies nearly two years to take it back – from August 28, 1189 until July 12, 1191. The victory was finally earned for Christendom by King Richard I (The Lionheart) who had taken control of the campaign a month earlier after arriving from the west.

The History Channel is putting together a new show called Decoded and are looking for a second host for the program. Here is the blurb they sent us.

We are looking for a male co-host, ages 35-55 for a premium cable show that focuses on American Conspiracies, Mysteries and Secrets. Our host should be a “believable believer,” someone who can challenge traditional scientific and historical methods.